LED Retrofit for JBJ Nano Cube 24 DX

[jsmi2024]

Wow great Im doin the same exact project this thread will help alot. Also im about to order my heat sink let me know if that size was good for you and ill just order the same one. Also i might have skiped over it but which power source and plugs did you end up getting.

[Minadin]

Wow great Im doin the same exact project this thread will help alot. Also im about to order my heat sink let me know if that size was good for you and ill just order the same one. Also i might have skiped over it but which power source and plugs did you end up getting.

 

Check out the materials list in page 1 it has links and prices as of last week. As far as pricing I spent a good 5 - 6 hours scouring for better ones so the ones you see are great. I used those plugs becuase they had males already prewired DIRT cheap.

 

I will not know about the heat sink size until my leds arrive. I want to do the dismantling of my hood when I have everything ready to go. The heatsink looks like it will work, if I have to get it cut so be it just a shave maybe, besides the other size is too small for NC 24DX.

 

Will update new pics from today's deliveries & heatsink polishing in a few minutes.

 

Scott

[Minadin]

Well so far the McMaster-Carr screws & washers arrived man, that was quick. Shipping turned out to be $4.75 added the cost to material price list.

 

I polished my heatsink today tell me what you think.

 

I spent about 15 minutes on it. Stopped by AutoZone and got the sandpaper combo pack 400, 800, 1000 grits for $4.50. I spent about 10 minutes trying to do the "lapping" method on a 1/2" thick piece of acrylic like these instructions show, Lapping A Heatsink. That was too much work, hassle & mess with a still scratchy looking surface after the 1000 grit. I am not an avid DIY'er and I have little patience. To obtain my mirror-like finish I looked for one of my old tubes of MAAS, I have had the same 2 tubes for over 10 years now. I spent 5 minutes using a dry paper towel and the MAAS and bam it looks good to me. The company apparently is still in business, MAAS Inc, and this stuff cleans/polishes tons of stuff including acrylic & gold.

 

Here's to me waiting on maybe more deliveries today.

Scott

 

McMaster-Carr screws/washers, thick little washers no shorts here.

 

Heatsink polished 15 minutes ( Before picture in earlier post)

[evilc66]

Same kind of polishing compound I recommended earlier except you have the paste, I have the stick for a buffing wheel. If you use a buffing wheel it gets a lot better.

[Minadin]

evilc66 - I will try to get a wheel for my dremel to polish even further, thanks for the heads up.

 

My MPJA and LED Supply orders arrived today. I realized I only ordered 1 knob 1/8" shaft instead of 4 even though my materials list is correct. Oh well, the one that came wasn't the one I ordered anyway. Power supply looks nice & compact. It has screws for wire hold downs (forks?), I thought I was going to have to solder to it.

 

A question on the power supply. There is a red button that flips up/down on the side that either says 230 or 115 should 115 be showing if I will be plugging into a regular outlet?

 

The little buckpucks are nice and smaller than I pictured. Now just waiting on my leds from ETG, Anna sent them for pcb mounting today. I will be drilling tapping this weekend. Working on wiring diagrams now in Sketchup.

 

Thanks

Scott

 

Buckpucks

 

Power Supply

[evilc66]

Might want to get something bigger than a dremel, or you will be there all week. A corded drill works well, and Home Depot has a polishing kit for about $12 with an arbor and three buffing wheels.

 

You will want 115v showing on the switch. Your voltage will be low if you have 220v selected.

[Minadin]

A little update and of course more questions.

 

My heat sink polished up a nice mirror finish thanks to evil's suggestion. I bought a Drill Chuck Arbor & 4" Buffing pad at Lowe's total $7.93. More Maas was used and about 5 minutes or so of buffing. Totally pleased with the outcome you see below.

 

 

I got my electrical plugs/jacks and experimented with some soldering. Looks easy enough.

 

My question(s) are:

On the the plug what is the white lined wire versus the solid black? I believe one is hot & one neutral.

On the jack there are 3 prongs as pictured which is ground,neutral & hot?

Is there a website that shows basic wiring for these type items.

 

I looked for a bit for the answers to these questions to no avail. The Philmore catalog shows pictures but no info on how to wire these up. I know about electrical only what I have learned on this forum. If there is a chance I may wire anything wrong and destroy my leds or house fire, of course I want to be right in what I do.

 

I will finish up wiring diagrams once I have this info.

 

Thanks so much

Scott

[evilc66]

White stripe is positive, solid black is ground. Are you using the 3 pin plugs and jacks for AC or DC hookup?

[Minadin]

White stripe is positive, solid black is ground. Are you using the 3 pin plugs and jacks for AC or DC hookup?

 

Both I have 4 plugs/jacks for the buckpucks and 1 for the power in.

 

Thanks

Scott

[evilc66]

Might want to get a different plug for the AC input. Don't want to accidentally plug it in the wrong way.

 

The tab that is riveted to the back is the ground terminal for AC hookup, and the other two are live and neutral. For a DC hookup, just use those two, and not the riveted one. It doesn't matter which way round you connect them, just as long as you get it the same on the mating plug.

[Minadin]

Might want to get a different plug for the AC input. Don't want to accidentally plug it in the wrong way.

 

The tab that is riveted to the back is the ground terminal for AC hookup, and the other two are live and neutral. For a DC hookup, just use those two, and not the riveted one. It doesn't matter which way round you connect them, just as long as you get it the same on the mating plug.

 

Ok I will either get a different plug for the AC input or alter the existing one so It is not a problem.

 

So now that I know that there is a live & neutral how do I know HOW to get them the same on the mating plug?

For example on the jack I see now that the ground is the pole riveted in the middle of the jack. However by looking inside the jack I see only one other piece of metal the plug would contact. So would that be live or nuetral?

 

On the plug, as it already wired, how do I know which wire is for the outside metal sheath and which is for the inside metal sheath?

 

Trying not to be a bother, which is why I hoped there was a website that dissected the plugs/jacks.

 

Thanks so much

Scott

[evilc66]

Get a multimeter and check for continuity between the pins and the tabs. They should be directly inline with each other.

 

On the barrel plug, the outside is ground, the inside is positive. Again, check with the meter to make sure.

[Minadin]

The tab that is riveted to the back is the ground terminal for AC hookup, and the other two are live and neutral. For a DC hookup, just use those two, and not the riveted one. It doesn't matter which way round you connect them, just as long as you get it the same on the mating plug.

 

Ok I went downstairs and found a Sperry Multimeter, anyone else have tools they have never used , I read the instructions & calibrated it. I then proceeded to check continuity of cord first then the pins on jack.

I could not find continuity by using the two outside pins but by the riveted center and the far outside pin.

 

I hooked up a AA battery to the cord + to + & - to - of course, then plugged that into the jack. I got readings again on riveted pin as + and the outside pin as -.

 

 

I feel this is correct but have been wrong before. I will find the use of my multimeter useful I am sure throughout this project.

 

Thanks so much

Scott

[rean_jem]

i see where evil is getting at. to be plain and simple here, it doesnt really matter which one is positive or negative with the plug. first choose which one you want to be positive or negative with the wire that has the barrel plug on it already. for simplicity's sake lets just say that the one with the white stripes is neutral. now get the continuity meter and put one end of the meter on the neutral wire and the other end of the meter on either the outside or inside of the plug. whichever gives you the reading then that is the neutral side. now just match that to the other plug you will make.

 

i dont know if i just made it more confusing,

[evilc66]

Ok I went downstairs and found a Sperry Multimeter, anyone else have tools they have never used , I read the instructions & calibrated it. I then proceeded to check continuity of cord first then the pins on jack.

I could not find continuity by using the two outside pins but by the riveted center and the far outside pin.

 

I hooked up a AA battery to the cord + to + & - to - of course, then plugged that into the jack. I got readings again on riveted pin as + and the outside pin as -.

 

 

I feel this is correct but have been wrong before. I will find the use of my multimeter useful I am sure throughout this project.

 

Thanks so much

Scott

 

I think you are reading into this way to much for something really simple. Ignore the riveted tab. You won't use it for DC connections. The other two tabs on the back of the connector will be positive and negative. Doesn't matter which. Solder your wires to it, then plug the mating connector in. The tabs will line up, and just make sure it's positive to positive, negative to negative. The tab on the back side of the connector will be directly in line with the pin/socket terminal on the front side of the connector.

[Minadin]

The tab on the back side of the connector will be directly in line with the pin/socket terminal on the front side of the connector.

Trust me I am trying not to read too much into this, just trying to do it right. I am fine up to the sentence above. There is nothing to line the tabs on the back side up with on the front side/connector, it is just a hole with the riveted ground as the pin..hopefully you understand why I could not get any readings using the 2 outside pins with mating plug attached.

 

I will try doing as instructed with the power supply tonight. If they just put the same markings as cord/psu on the jack it would be so easy for an amateur to wire.

 

Thanks

Scott

[evilc66]

My appologies. I just realized what the front of the connector looked like

 

You were right with your other post. I didn't realize that the front of that was the recepticle for the barrel plug. The riveted tab is the ground. Not sure why one tab would have no obvious connection though. Do you have a link for the connector?

[Minadin]

My appologies. I just realized what the front of the connector looked like

 

You were right with your other post. I didn't realize that the front of that was the recepticle for the barrel plug. The riveted tab is the ground. Not sure why one tab would have no obvious connection though. Do you have a link for the connector?

 

I thought I was going mad!!! No problem here's the links and pics again. I do appreciate your time.

 

#TC258 DC Power Cord, 2.5 x 5.5mm Plug to Bare Leads - Willy's Electronics

#248 DC Jack, 2.5MM x 5.5MM, Panel Mount, Plastic Housing - Willy's Electronics

 

 

Scott

[davce99]

I thought I was going mad!!! No problem here's the links and pics again. I do appreciate your time.

 

#TC258 DC Power Cord, 2.5 x 5.5mm Plug to Bare Leads - Willy's Electronics

#248 DC Jack, 2.5MM x 5.5MM, Panel Mount, Plastic Housing - Willy's Electronics

 

 

Scott

 

Thanks for a good project from Macedonia

 

One question for evilc66 about this project and the power supply it's possible to use this power source and how for 24 power leds the same from this project

http://www.fspgroupusa.com/PC_OEM/fsppcoem.asp

[evilc66]

You could use something like that, but you would be limited to 3 LEDs per string/driver. You would have to run 8 drivers for just 24 LEDs. Not very cost effective. 24v power supplies are not hard to find, and come up frequently on ebay as laptop and printer power supplies.

[davce99]

You could use something like that, but you would be limited to 3 LEDs per string/driver. You would have to run 8 drivers for just 24 LEDs. Not very cost effective. 24v power supplies are not hard to find, and come up frequently on ebay as laptop and printer power supplies.

 

 

Evilc66 Thanks for the answer but if i take this one i can use 2 drivers and 2 strings of 12 led???

http://parts.digikey.com/1/parts/727052-po...suu-120-48.html

 

Thank you for the Help!!!

[davce99]

But the driver is 32volts input max. )

[evilc66]

Right. Your driver will limit the max voltage that you can have on the power supply. The Buckpucks are 32v max, but you can only run up to 6 LEDs per driver. With only being able to run 6 LEDs, a 24v power supply is a much better choice as they are easier to find.

[davce99]

Evilc66 Pls help me to find a cheap power supply 24 volts 4.5 A, and cheap drivers, but world wide shipping hear in Macedona i can't find nothing

[evilc66]

Worldwide shipping is going to be tough. Start looking at ebay. Thats probably you best bet. There are some places in Europe that will ship to you like LED-Tech, and others. You are going to be on your own on this one, as I have no idea who will ship to you. We have trouble getting places to ship to Canada!